Sunday, January 3, 2010

GENBAND reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Nortel's Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) business for a purchase price of US$282 million, subject to balance sheet and other adjustments currently estimated at approximately US$100 million. The deal is a "stalking horse" arrangement subject to additional bids and requires U.S. and Canadian court approvals for bidding procedures, including a bid deadline and tentative auction date.

These agreements include the planned sale of substantially all assets of the CVAS business globally including softswitching, gateways and SIP applications. These agreements also include all patents and intellectual property that are predominantly used in the CVAS business.

GENBAND has teamed with one of its existing shareholders, One Equity Partners III, L.P. (OEP), to assist in financing the proposed purchase of Nortel's CVAS assets. OEP manages investments and commitments for JP Morgan Chase & Co. in private equity transactions.

"The proposed transaction represents a clear and positive step forward for Nortel's CVAS customers, employees, and business. Today's announcement is a strong endorsement of our continued leadership in the Carrier VoIP market where we have held the #1 position since 2002," said Samih Elhage, President of Nortel's CVAS business. http://www.nortel.com http://www.genband.com

China Mobile added 4,579,000 customers in November 2009, giving it a total subscriber base of 518,045,000 as of the beginning of December 2009. This brought the total number of new subscribers to 60,795,000 for the first eleven months of 2009. http://www.chinamobileltd.com/http://

China Mobile Communications (CMC) announced that due to alleged serious financial irregularities, Mr. Zhang Chunjiang's position as positions as Secretary of the CPC Committee and Vice President of CMCC have been removed. The company's Board of Directors will consider removing him from his positions as Vice Chairman and executive director of the company as well. The announcement followed confirmation that the authorities are conduction an investigation of Zhang Chunjiang. http://www.chinamobileltd.com/

Ruckus Wireless has released its "Zap" wireless performance testing program to the Open Source Community.

Originally developed by Ruckus engineers to characterize wireless behavior of real-time IP-based video streaming applications, Zap is a wireless performance measurement utility designed to determine wireless network signal performance accurately over time, space and frequency. The tool provides a statistical analysis that anticipates the performance of a wireless network by predicting the percent of time and the locations at which performance will be above or below a certain limit.

By design, Zap lets network planners test sustained throughput of an existing wireless network and determine the true, sustained and worst-case performance that it is capable of delivering 99.5 percent of the time. Using Zap, organizers can also predict the real-life performance of a system before deployment.

"With wireless you need to understand the statistical throughput distribution in order to really characterize performance. Zap gives you that. Other performance testing tools only tell you average throughput, which is often irrelevant to demanding applications," said Bill Kish, chief technology officer and co-founder of Ruckus Wireless. "As good as Zap is, by releasing the code as open source, we believe the software community can make it even better, perhaps even incorporate it into new commercial testing tools. Wi-Fi is becoming a critical network access infrastructure and anything that shines a brighter light onto Wi-Fi performance is a good thing for the industry."

Zap is currently integrated into Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart wireless LAN products as the underlying engine used by SpeedFlex, a Wi-Fi performance diagnostic tool that lets customers quickly determine the uplink and downlink performance and packet loss of any given wireless connection. http://www.ruckuswireless.com

Quantcast, a start-up based in San Francisco, raised $27.5 million in new capital to support rapid adoption of its Quantcast Media Program, which offers advertisers a standardized means to measure, organize, buy and sell real-time audiences.

Cisco and prior investor Polaris Venture Partners co-led the round, increasing its ownership position in the company and previous investors Founders Fund and Revolution Ventures also participated.

"Digital technology is transforming the way media and advertising is measured, personalized and delivered, from TV set-top boxes to the desktop PC and mobile phone," said Konrad Feldman, Quantcast co-founder and CEO, "As we aim to power ubiquitous addressable media solutions for a networked digital future, we're thrilled to be able to access Cisco's deep expertise and global business presence."http://www.quantcast.com/http://www.cisco.com

Marvell is launching new ARMADA processors -- including a 2 GHz processor that achieves PC-class performance at a fraction of the power consumption -- aimed at always-connected devices, including eReaders, Smartbooks, Dual Books, Tablets, Smartphones, Smart Display Dongles, Plug computers, home entertainment, and office productivity devices.

Among the innovations that Marvell is showcasing at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a new array of small form factor devices with various display outputs, such as HDMI, VGA, DVI, and Video Out. These smart dongles enable consumers to access content from one place -- the Internet or mobile handsets, for example, and display it on their living room TV screens. The Smart Display Dongle is the link to anytime, anywhere, any size live media delivery.

Marvell will also show its Mobile Hotspot technology that is designed to transform any consumer electronic device with an Internet connection into a wireless hotspot. This allows devices such as smartphones, digital cameras, personal media players, and personal navigation devices to operate as full featured Wi-Fi access points. In addition, Marvell will also showcase its new family of wireless devices delivering multifunction radios -- built from the ground up to outperform all standalone options for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM, and GPS.

"We're moving beyond the limits of the Internet age to bring consumers something new: the always-on lifestyle - anytime, anywhere and any size. Marvell's mission is to pioneer always-on living by giving consumers the power to experience rich live digital content -- voice, data, video, photos, music and news -- where ever they want it, whenever they want it and in the format they want it in," said Ms. Weili Dai, Marvell's Co-founder and Vice President and General Manager of Marvell Semiconductor's Consumer and Computing Business Unit. "http://www.marvell.com

Procera Networks, a developer of Evolved Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) solutions providing traffic awareness, control and protection for complex networks, anticipates that revenue for the fourth quarter will be in the range of $9.1 million to $9.5 million, or 102% - 111% year-over-year growth.

On its third quarter earnings call on November 5, 2009, Procera provided fourth quarter guidance for revenue growth over 100% year-over-year. The company also expects to achieve profitability for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2009.

"Throughout 2009 we executed on our corporate strategy to become the market leader in Network Traffic Management," said James Brear, president and CEO of Procera Networks. "As a result, we experienced continued momentum among major carriers and exceeded our revenue guidance for the fourth quarter."http://www.proceranetworks.comhttp://

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

NTT Communications (NTT Com) launched a new cable route linking Japan to the Trans-Pacific Express Cable Network (TPE), an optical fiber cable system that interconnects Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and now Japan.

TPE, which was built by a consortium comprising NTT Com, AT&T, China Telecommunications, China United Telecommunications, Chunghwa Telecom, KT Corporation and Verizon Business, began operating on September 30, 2008.

The construction and operational startup of the Japan--Asia section leg constitutes the second phase of the TPE project. The TPE now comprises approximately 18,000 kilometers of cable and offers maximum transmission capacity of up to 5.12 terabits per second. http://www.ntt.co.jp

Huawei received a major infrastructure order from Net4Mobility, the joint venture by Tele2 and Telenor. Under the contract, Huawei will supply infrastructure and modems for a nationwide 4G network in Sweden. The goal is that 99 percent of the Swedish population will be able to access the new network before the end of 2013, starting with densely populated areas. The deployment also includes increasing the number of base stations for voice traffic in 2G/GSM by 30-50 percent, with enhanced indoor- and outdoor coverage across the country as a result. Financial terms were not disclosed. http://www.huawei.com

Altobridge has acquired ADC's portfolio of GSM base station and switching products for an undisclosed sum.

The deal includes ADC's existing GSM base station and switching product customer base. Altobridge will retain all of the employees necessary to support the business. In addition, Altobridge is acquiring certain assets and intellectual property related to the product portfolio.

The ADC GSM base station and switching product portfolio supports remote wireless and small national networks, as well as government, emergency and private network communications. Altobridge said these products complement its offerings in several markets, including its Fully Managed Service business for meeting the growing communication needs of emerging markets, and solutions for optimising voice and data transmission for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

"Mobile Network Operators face a major challenge to deliver accelerating voice and data traffic for declining returns. Altobridge will continue to innovate and deliver further solutions that drive down these underlying communication costs," said Mike Fitzgerald, CEO of Altobridge. "This acquisition will enable Altobridge to broaden our Intellectual Property portfolio and grow our Fully Managed Service business as we work hand in hand with MNOs striving to connect their subscriber groups at lower costs."

Kyivstar GSM, the largest operator in Ukraine, has selected Alcatel-Lucent to design, install, and maintain a country-wide Metropolitan transmission packet based IP/MPLS network as part of its larger IP network transformation. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Alcatel-Lucent will supply products from its industry leading Service Router (SR) portfolio including the 7750 SR, 7210 Service Access Switch and the 5620 Service Aware Manager to address the access, aggregation and core network layers. To offer a full end-to-end solution, Alcatel-Lucent will also supply its next generation Enterprise product, the Omni Switch 6250, to deliver residential access and 3G backhauling. Alcatel-Lucent will also provide professional services.

The network transformation will be performed in two phases: phase one will cover the needs of end-users services (HSI, VoIP, IPTV) and up-coming 3G mobile traffic. During the second phase 2G traffic will be gradually moved from SDH to the converged IP network. http://www,alcatel-lucent.com

Alcatel-Lucent enhanced its optical networking portfolio with next-generation coherent technology for dealing with transmission impairments, which become extremely severe at speeds higher than 100 Gbps. The technology uses proprietary algorithms in digital signal processing. It has been demonstrated in a 112 Gbps field trial over an existing, heavy loaded real-traffic fiber link of Telefonica's network during which live traffic was transmitted over 1,088 km between four cities, in Spain.

Alcatel-Lucent is implementing next-generation coherent detection in key optical platforms with the goal of helping service providers transform their existing networks to ease the strain caused by high bandwidth applications, while maintaining superior performance. Additionally, the technology will seamlessly support further evolution to higher speeds than 100G over the same future-proof platform when the market dictates.

Alcatel-Lucent said its optical networking portfolio allows for dynamic wavelength assignment and restoration, as well as transmission of any hybrid traffic mix. Ensuring the optimized use of existing fiber plants, it can transmit mixed 10, 40 and 100G signals without the need for guard bands or network reengineering, and traverse multiple nodes without additional regeneration. As a result, operators can implement highly-flexible and scalable meshed transmission networks to cost-effectively carry services in response to end customer demands, today and in the future.

"The advancements to our optical portfolio further confirm the role of optical networking as a critical enabler for competitive transformation to seamlessly move to higher capacities fast and reliably," said Romano Valussi, president of Alcatel-Lucent's Optics activities. "In combination with our customer focus is set to help operators accelerate time to service for new applications, simplify their operations and improve performance for better total cost of ownership."http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Telefónica acquired JAJAH, a start-up that offers an IP Communications platform enables consumers to make free long-distance and global calls online The deal was valued at EUR 145 million ($207 million) in cash.

With JAJAH, consumers simply enter their phone on the JAJAH site along with their friend's phone number anywhere in the world. JAJAH then sets up an Internet call between both parties. JAJAH services are used in around 200 countries by millions of people and are integrated into everyday instant messaging and social media applications, as well as through its own JAJAH direct-to-consumer offer.

Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe, said: "The acquisition of JAJAH broadens the scope of our communications offering and opens up new capabilities in the voicem communication space. People using social networking sites such as Twitter now have an even wider range of communications channels available -- and have the option of speaking directly to each other as well as communicating by text or keyboard."

JAHJAH is based in Mountain View, California with offices in Ra`anana, Israel. http://www.telefonica.com http://www.jajah.com

Len Lauer has resigned as chief operating officer of Qualcomm and has accepted a CEO role at another company.

As a result, the Qualcomm MEMS Technologies (QMT) organization will now report to Steve Mollenkopf, EVP and president, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT). With the display business entering an important phase of expansion, close partnership with QCT will help QMT as they work with device manufacturers and tackle the challenges of commercializing, scaling and evolving the mirasol product line. All remaining services businesses will now report to Steve Altman, president. http://www.qualcomm.com

Ford Motor Company plans to include a mobile hotspot capability in vehicles equipped with the second generation of its popular SYNC in-car connectivity system next year.

Inserting an owner's compatible USB mobile broadband modem -- sometimes called an "air card" -- into SYNC's USB port will produce a secure wireless connection that will be broadcast throughout the vehicle, allowing passengers with WiFi-enabled mobile devices to access the Internet anywhere the broadband modem receives connectivity.

"While you're driving to grandma's house, your spouse can be finishing the holiday shopping and the kids can be chatting with friends and updating their Facebook profiles," said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas. "And you're not paying for yet another mobile subscription or piece of hardware because Ford will let you use technology you already have."http://www.ford.com

Intel unveiled its latest Atom CPUs featuring significant power reduction, performance improvements and smaller package size. Using 45nm high-k metal technology, the new chips reduce average power consumption by 20 percent over previous generation, enabling longer battery life in netbooks.

Since introducing the Atom line in June 2008, Intel has shipped over 40 million Atom chips for netbooks. The company expects the rapid uptake in netbooks to accelerate next year. The company has over 80 design wins to-date for the new Atom platform from such leading OEMs as ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, MSI, Toshiba, Samsung and Fujitsu.

Worldwide netbook shipments by telecommunications companies such as T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and others are also growing and expected to fuel another round of expansion. Intel has been working closely with mobile operators and modem vendors to advance 3G capabilities in netbooks in established and emerging markets. To-date approximately a dozen service providers offer netbooks in various markets, and the numbers are expected to grow with the newest platform.

"The Intel Atom processor has fueled an entirely new category of computing over the last year and a half and we think the growth will continue for devices like netbooks and entry-level PCs built around basic computing and Internet usage models," said Mooly Eden, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of Intel's PC Client Group. http://www.netbook.com